'Clearly deserved'

U.S. beats Canada, prepares to face Costa Rica in final

Kasey Keller benefited from "prior knowledge" in penalty kicks against Canada. AP

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- U.S. coach Bruce Arena thought his team clearly deserved to win.

After failing to put one of their 36 shots into the net for 120 minutes of scoreless regulation and overtime Wednesday night, the Americans made their first four penalty kicks, and goalkeeper Kasey Keller swatted away two shots to give the United States a 4-2 edge in penalty kicks and a victory over Canada.

"We were a little unlucky not to get a goal," Arena said. "We clearly deserved to win this game. I give Canada credit for fighting hard for 120 minutes, but in all honesty, I think the better team won."

The win over the defending champion Canadians put the Americans into the CONCACAF Gold Cup championship game against Costa Rica on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; Univision). Costa Rica beat South Korea 3-1 in Wednesday's other semifinal.

Canada edged Martinique on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals, and Keller went to school on that game.

"Tony [backup goalkeeper Tony Meola] and I watched their penalties against Martinique. Basically, from what we saw, we had a pretty good feeling that the majority were going to the left," Keller said. "But I knew the guy who shot the last one was going to the right."

As his teammates were making their first four penalty kicks, Keller sprawled to his left and blocked a low liner by Kevin McKenna, Canada's first kicker. After Paul Stalteri and Dwayne DeRosario made their kicks for Canada, Keller leaped to his right and blocked Tam Nsaliwa's shot to give the Americans the win.

"It's always nice to have a little bit of prior knowledge, because most people in pressure-packed situations go to what they're comfortable with," Keller said.

Landon Donovan, Brian McBride, Jeff Agoos and Clint Mathis -- in his second appearance since coming back from a knee injury -- made their shots against goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld had kept Canada in the game by making 15 saves -- compared to Keller's 3.

"I thought we played great, probably our best performance," Donovan said. "We were a little bit unlucky, but we did everything we needed to win. It wasn't our night, though, until the end."

On a chilly night when temperatures dipped into the 30s, attendance was only 7,241 in the 90,000-plus seat Rose Bowl. Attendance was hampered by the elimination of local favorite Mexico. Several American players, including Cobi Jones, DaMarcus Beasley and Donovan wore gloves.

Hirschfeld, a reserve goalkeeper who has been filling in because starter Craig Forrest is recovering from cancer, was spectacular in goal during regulation and overtime.

Hirschfeld and defender Jason DeVos combined to stop a flurry of four shots within seconds during the 54th minute. Josh Wolff's shot from 11 yards hit high on the left post and bounced back in front of the goal. McBride then shot from 12 yards and Hirschfeld stretched and batted the ball forward and straight to Wolff.

Wolff made a hard bicycle kick toward the net, but DeVos headed the ball out, to McBride. McBride shot again, only to have Hirschfeld tip it away and out.

Mathis had been out since June because of torn knee ligaments. He entered the game as a second-half sub for Wolff. His fellow Georgian had started in place of Ante Razov, who strained a groin muscle in Sunday's 4-0 win over El Salvador and also will miss the championship game.

The United States is 8-9-4 all-time against Costa Rica, which finished first -- and the United States second -- in the same group in qualifying for this summer's World Cup. The two national teams split their games during the qualifying, however, each winning at home.

The Americans have beaten the Costa Ricans all three times they've met in the Gold Cup.

Costa Rica is led by Paulo Cesar Wanchope, who scored twice in the semifinal against South Korea and has four goals in the tournament.

The trip to the finals will be the fourth for the United States, which won just one of its earlier three Gold Cup title games, defeating Honduras on penalty kicks in the inaugural tournament in 1991.

 

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